At least 20 worshippers have been killed and 30 wounded in a grenade attack on a mosque in northern Pakistan.
'Militants surrounded the mosque, threw grenades and then started indiscriminate firing, killing 20 people and wounding 30 others,' a senior security official told wire services.
He said the attackers fled into the mountains after the attack in the remote region of Dir district in North West Frontier Province, near the Afghan border.
Police said the Sunni mosque was full of people offering special Ramadan prayers when the attackers struck.
'People were offering prayers inside the mosque when unidentified people threw several grenades, causing bloodshed and mayhem,' police officer Naveed Khan said.
Local district official Mahmood Khan said three grenades were lobbed into the mosque which hit the last two rows of the congregation. Children were among the victims, he said.
'An emergency has been declared in the hospital to treat the wounded,' he said.
Another security official said the attack did not appear to be sectarian.
'It is a blatant act of terrorism,' he said.
Zadari vows to combat militancy
The district borders on Bajaur and Swat districts where Pakistani troops are heavily engaged in a crackdown on Al-Qaeda and Taliban-linked militants.
Despite this, the attack was a rare one in Dir district which has a majority of Sunni Muslims, the main denomination in Pakistan.
Mahmood Khan said no one had claimed responsibility for the attack but last month a meeting of elders in the area had issued a strongly-worded statement against the Taliban and had vowed to act against them entering the area.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has strongly condemned the attack, official media reported.
President Asif Ali Zardari, who was sworn in yesterday, has pledged to combat the militancy that has been plaguing the country and neighbouring Afghanistan.
The government has been struggling to tackle militant violence that has seen nearly 1,200 people killed in bombings and suicide attacks across the country in the past year.
US and Afghan officials say Pakistan's border tribal areas are a safe haven for Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants who sneaked into the rugged region after the fall of the Taliban regime in late 2001.
Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, are widely believed to be hiding in the mountainous region.
